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Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Bon East chinese restaurant, Farnham

Went out with a couple of friends tonight and tried out the new chinese restaurant down the bottom of the hill, Bon East. I've walked past the door loads of times while it was being converted from the pub it used to be - the Bricklayer's Arms (and not much of a pub in my opinion, certainly not one I miss). It happens to be on my walk home from work if I take that route, so I've peeked through the windows.

The outside looks quite posh and maybe a little pretentious, and the inside is done out nicely but also a little like it's trying. The sign isn't quite right in my opinion, it needs toning down a bit. Compared to the housing and the area around it, it's not really in character. But that's a good thing in some ways. Once you walk inside through the (not quite fitting, needs some alignment) heavy front doors and through the doors into the restaurant itself, you are whisked away into a classy interior. They've certainly tried to do something with it and the tropical fish tank was an eye-catcher as well as some of the lighting. Nice seasonal touches too for Christmas.

It was mainly filled by business types, with some more casually dressed people so I felt a little underdressed wearing just a casual top and smart-ish black jeans but not unduly so. I'll wear a shirt next time.

It's got a well equipped menu and polite waiters/waitresses. The food was nice, a little pricey but not extortionate. It's not the kind of restaurant you'd expect cheap meals in anyway. A good desert menu too, I had to try the "funky pie".

I'd be happy to take someone there in future, even a date. There's a certain sense of discovery with it being so new and being one of the first to visit. Not a lot of people will have heard of it I guess - I've not heard anyone else chatting about it, especially with the pub there before not being one you'd go very far out of your way to visit (for me). Hopefully it won't get too busy.

2 comments:

Living just round the corner, my wife and I went last night with a friend, and we had the "deluxe" set menu. Possibly the best Chinese we've ever had. Perfect quantities of absolutely exquisite food, and generally excellent service too. Seemed about half full, not bad for fairly early on a midweek night; we hope they do well.